1V 


\ 


' » 


I  \l  ll 


Viv'.^ 


W  PRINCETON,  N,  J.  ^M 


Presented    by  0  \  .  \J\j  .On 


cA/Y^\::3<SY-  v\r^ 


v; 


(T/L^prj  ^Ay^^f-y^^rpcj 


C^w 


MEMORIAL 


MAR   6   191] 


-^i^r 


'i\v 


REV.  JOHN  PARIS  HUDSON 


A  MINISTEE  OF  THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH  FOR  SIXTY  YEARS 


CO«PILED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  HIS  DAUGHTER 
M.  LOUISE^HUDSON 


"He  being  dead  yet  speaketh.' 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN  PUB.  CO. 

1905 


INTRODUCTION. 

This  little  volume  is  affectionately  dedicated  to  the  memory 
of  Rev.  John  Paris  Hudson  The  contents  of  the  following 
pages  will  doubtless  be  of  interest  only  to  those  who  knew 
and  loved  my  dear  father,  and  to  those  associated  with  him  in 
his  ministerial  life  in  the  close  relations  of  friend  and  fellow- 
worker.  He  left  to  his  children  the  precious  heritage  of  his 
teachings  and  the  example  of  a  pure  and  stainless  life.  With 
the  love  of  God  abiding  in  him  richly  in  all  its  sweet  fragrance, 
hallowing  all  his  cares,  consecrating  every  sorrow  and  ruling 
every  thought,  he  devoted  his  best  powers  for  a  long  period  to 
the  service  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

In  his  rare  private  character,  a  spirituality  and  personal 
magnetism  were  exhibited,  winning  others  to  holy  living,  and 
inspiring  all  with  exalted  ideas  of  God.     His  life  until 

"God's  finger  touched  him  and  he  slept." 
was  a  benediction  which  no  biographer,  however  loving,  can 
fittingly  record.  M.  L.  H. 

Williamsport,  Pa.,  March,  igos. 


Keo.  John  Paris  l^udson 


Di$  Descent  and  Tatnily  f^istory 


John  Paris  Hudson  was  of  English  and  Huguenot  an- 
cestr)-,  and  through  his  father  and  mother,  related  to  many 
old  and  well-known  families  in  Virginia  and  West  Virginia. 

He  was  a  descendant  of  an  ancient  English  family,  the 
family  of  Henry  Hudson  the  navigator,  founded  according 
to  tradition,  by  a  follower  of  William,  after  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, and  distinguished  through  succeeding  reigns  as  "a 
race  of  scholars  and  brave  gentlemen."  In  the  sixth  year  of 
thie  reign  of  King  George  I,  April,  1720,  George  Hudson,  the 
younger  son  of  a  Yorkshire  gentleman,  from  whom  Rev.  Mr. 
Hudson  was  in  the  fifth  generation  in  line  of  descent,  came  to 
Philadelphia,  and  purchased  from  the  Proprietaries  several 
hundred  acres  of  land  in  Caernarvon  township,  Lancaster, 
then  Chester  county,  in  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania.  Caer- 
narvon was  a  beautiful  and  fertile  section  of  Eastern  Lancas- 
ter county,  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Welsh  Mountains, 
and  on  the  south  by  the  Forest  Hills,  through  which  flow  the 
head  waters  of  the  Conestoga.  It  was  the  third  settlement  in 
point  of  time  within  the  limits  of  Lancaster  county,  "the  most 
aristocratic  and  exclusive  settlement  in  the  county,  and  for 
seventy  years  maintained  that  character."  Some  of  the 
houses  of  the  early  colonists  still  standing  with  solid  stone 
walls,  show  the  perfection  of  finished  workmanship,  in  "elabo- 
rate carved  wainscoting  and  oaken  paneling." 

The  children  of  George  Hudson,  the  early  colonist,  were 
Joyce,  wife  of  Evan  Pugh ;   Charles,  George,  Nicholas,  and 


another  son,  William,  who  never  came  to  America.  George 
Hudson  and  his  sons,  Charles  George  and  Nicholas,  were 
founders  and  prominent  members  of  the  Bangor  Established 
Church  of  England  at  Churchtown. 

The  ancient  charter,  a  quaint  document  granted  by 
William  Penn  to  the  first  settlers  of  Lancaster  county,  is 
recorded  on  the  old  Parish  Register  of  Bangor  Church.  The 
first  Bangor  Episcopal  Church,  erected  in  1730.  remained 
until  1754,  when  a  new  stone  church  was  built,  of  which  the 
late  Mrs.M.J.  Nevin,of  Caernarvon  Place,  Lancaster,  writes : 
"I  remember  it  as  a  beautiful  specimen  of  an  English  country 
church,  with  its  graceful  spire  and  belfry,  its  square,  high, 
box  pews,  and  its  sounding  board  over  the  little  box-paneled 
pulpit."  The  lands  immediately  surrounding  the  church,  and 
conveyed  to  it  prior  to  1730,  were  let  out  on  ground  rents, 
the  leases  running  for  ninety-nine  years,  for  the  purpose  of 
supporting  the  Rector,  and  the  parish  school  established  by 
the  early  colonists. 

The  name  of  Hudson  appears  on  the  old  Parish  Register 
of  Bangor  Church,  as  vestryman  and  church  warden,  until 
1793.  In  1746  George  Hudson,  the  original  colonist,  died, 
leaving  a  legacy  to  Bangor  Church,  and  devising  all  his  lands 
to  his  sons,  Charles,  Nicholas,  and  William,  if  he  would  come 
to  America.  As  George  Hudson  had  died  before  his  father, 
and  William  Hudson  never  left  England,  the  real  estate  in 
Pennsylvania  was  inherited  by  the  two  sons,  Charles  and 
Nicholas,  with  bequests  to  the  children  of  his  daughter,  Joyce, 
wife  of  Evan  Pugh,  and  Margaret  and  Morris  Hudson,  chil- 
dren of  his  son  George.  Charles  Hudson,  son  of  George, 
died  in  January,  1749,  willing  all  his  property,  both  real  and 
personal,  to  his  beloved  wife  Mary,   and   to   his   three  sons. 


Joshua,  George,  and  William,  showing  his  love  to  old  Bangor 
Church  by  a  generous  legacy.  Some  years  later  George 
Hudson,  the  second  son  of  Charles  Hudson,  purchased  all  the 
lands  of  his  two  brothers.  He  married  Jane  Davies,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Davies,  of  Caernarvon,  whose  family  were  early 
Welsh  colonists  at  Radnor,  Chester  county,  and  were  all 
zealous  members  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  entire 
towmship  of  Radnor,  five  thousand  acres  in  1681,  was 
patented  to  Richard  Davies,  of  Wales,  the  ancestor  of  the 
Davies'  families  of  Caernarvon.  From  these  families  were 
descended  Jonathan  Jones,  of  Kanawha,  Virginia ;  Colonel 
Jacob  Morgan,  of  Morgantown,  a  distinguished  ofificer  of  the 
Revolution ;  Hon.  Edward  Davis,  member  of  Congress,  the 
wife  of  the  Hon.  H.  G.  Strong,  and  the  Hon.  J.  Glancey 
Jones,  member  of  Congress,  and  Minister  to  Austria.  On 
June  3,  1772,  George  Hudson  sold  all  his  property  in  Lan- 
caster county  (which  then  consisted  of  three  large  tracts  of 
land,  in  Heidelburg  and  Caernarvon  townships),  to  his  uncle, 
Nicholas  Hudson,  and  removed  first  to  Washington  county, 
Maryland,  where  he  purchased  a  beautiful  estate,  but  the 
climate  being  unhealthy,  in  1777  he  left  Maryland  and  settled 
in  Augusta  county,  near  Staunton,  Virginia.  He  here  pur- 
chased estates  in  Montgomery  and  Augusta  counties  and  was 
the  owner  of  several  mills  in  Augusta. 

The  Valley  of  Virginia,  to  which  he  had  now  finally  re- 
moved, was  settled  principally  by  Scotch-Irish  from  Ulster 
at  a  later  date  than  the  Virginia  of  the  tide-water.  It  was  a 
lovely  and  temperate  region,  diversified  by  gentle  swells  and 
slopes.  Through  it  flows  the  river  which,  on  account  of  its 
surpassing  beauty,  was  named  by  the  Indians  the  Shenandoah 
"daughter  of  the  stars."    The  Scotch-Irish  settlers  were  pious 


Calvinists  who  did  not  share  the  fox  hunting  and  horse  rac- 
ing proclivities  of  the  tidewater  Virginians ;  but  devoted 
themselves  to  making  pleasant  homes,  educating  their  chil- 
dren, and  erecting  churches  and  colleges.  It  has  been  said 
that  "God  sifted  the  nations  of  the  earth,  that  He  might  send 
choice  spirits  to  people  this  continent,  and  that  many  of  the 
choicest  of  them  came  from  Ulster."  From  these  families 
were  descended  some  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  Virginia. 
In  this  beautiful  and  fertile  valley,  with  its  long  lines  of  blue 
mountains,  and  landscapes  lovely  beyond  description,  George 
Hudson,  a  pious  evangelical  churchman  of  liberal  spirit,  to- 
gether with  his  wife,  Jane  Davis  Hudson,  fondly  remembered 
for  her  exceeding  beauty,  united  with  Bethel  Presbyterian 
Church,  then  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Archibald  Scott,  and 
died  in  the  communion  of  that  church  December,  1792.  He 
was  the  father  of  three  sons,  Isaac  Hudson,  of  Montgomery 
county,  Virginia  ;  Charles  and  George  Hudson,  of  Augusta ; 
and  of  three  daughters,  Mary,  wife  of  Thomas  Paris,  of  Ohio ; 
Nancy,  wife  of  George  Paris,  of  Augusta,  and  Jane,  who  died 
in  early  hfe.  Three  grandsons  entered  the  ministry  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church :  Rev.  Thomas  D.  Hudson,  of  Mont- 
gomery county,  Virginia ;  Rev.  John  Paris  Hudson,  and  Rev. 
John  D.  Paris,  missionary  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  who  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Rufus  Anderson,  D.D.,  Secretary 
of  the  American  Board.  A  great  grandson.  Rev.  Thomas  D. 
Hudson,  was  pastor  of  churches  in  Bath  and  Montgomery. 
A  grandson,  Hon.  Robert  M.  Hudson,  was  Judge  of  the  Dis- 
trict (Superior)  Court  of  Virginia,  and  a  great  grandson, 
Hon.  Isaac  Hudson,  is  now  Judge  of  the  Courts  of  Pulaski 
county. 

Morris  Hudson,  the  son  of  George  Hudson,  and  grand- 


son  of  George  Hudson,  the  first  of  the  name  in  Lancaster 
county,  married  EHzabeth  Davis,  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  his 
cousin,  George  Hudson,  of  Augusta.  Augtist  i,  1782,  he  was 
made  a  vestryman  in  Bangor  Church.  He  purchased  "Wash- 
ington's Grant,"  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  Kanawha  Valley, 
Virginia,  which  had  been  granted  to  General  Washington  for 
services  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  and  previous  to  1790 
sold  out  all  his  possessions  in  Lancaster  county  and  removed 
to  Virginia.  His  sons  were  Davis,  a  Major  in  the  United 
States  Army ;  Samuel,  of  Kanawha,  and  Jesse,  who  married 
Martha  Jenkins  Wilson,  a  neice  of  Robert  Jenkins,  the  iron 
master  of  Lancaster.  Some  of  the  numerous  descendants  of 
Morris  Hudson  intermarried  among  the  Fitz  Hugh  and  Lee 
families,  and  one  branch  of  the  Washington  family.  Soon 
after  settling  in  Virginia,  Morris  Hudson  and  his  wife  do- 
nated four  acres  of  land  and  erected  upon  it  a  church  which 
they  had  consecrated  Bangor,  named  for  the  old  church  in 
Lancaster  county,  and  also  paid  the  entire  salary  of  the 
Rector.  Morris  Hudson  lived  to  a  great  age  at  his  hospitable 
home  at  Colesmouth  (St.  Albans),  loved  and  honored  by  all 
who  knew  him.  He  remained  a  member  of  the  church  of 
his  fathers,  with  its  many  sacred  associations  and  traditions. 
His  descendants  are,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  Episcopal 
Church,  while  those  of  George  Hudson  are  Presbyterians. 
Charles  Hudson,  the  second  son  of  George  and  Jane 
(Davis)  Hudson,  of  Beverly  Manor,  Augusta  county,  Vir- 
ginia, was  married  on  December  20,  1800,  to  Mary  Paris,  a 
lineal  descendant  of  a  French  Huguenot  family,  who  escaped 
religious  persecution  on  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  in  the  autumn  of  1685  by  flight  from  their  estate  near 
Paris  to  the  city  of  Londonderry,  Ireland,  and  were  in  the 


memorable  seige  of  that  fastness  of  Protestantism.  John 
Paris,  the  grandfather  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hudson,  was  born  in 
Londonderry,  and  there  married  Martha  Henderson,  a  name 
famous  in  Scotch  history.  In  1769  he  sailed  from  London- 
derry to  America,  with  his  wife  and  two  children,  Mary,  then 
two  years  of  age,  and  Martha,  an  infant,  who  became  the 
wife  of  John  Dennison,  a  ruling  elder  in  the  old  Augusta 
church  under  Dr.  Speece's  ministry.  His  wife  died  on  the 
voyage.  He  landed  at  Snow  Hill,  Maryland,  where  he  re- 
mained a  short  time,  and  then  purchased  an  estate  near 
Staunton,  Virginia,  and  married  Hannah  Henderson,  of 
Augusta,  a  cousin  of  his  first  wife.  He  was  a  Calvinist  of  the 
most  pronounced  type,  whose  ancestors  had  stood  the  test  of 
fire  and  sword,  and  coming  to  Virginia  he  declined  to  join 
the  Episcopal  Church,  which  was  then  the  Established 
Church  of  the  Colony.  In  the  personal  narrative,  from  which 
many  of  these  facts  are  taken,  Mr.  Hudson  says:  "I  recall 
with  mingled  feelings  of  joy  and  sadness,  a  memorable  Christ- 
mas eve,  at  my  grandfather's  fireside,  in  the  long  ago  days 
of  my  boyhood,  and  the  group  of  children  and  grandchildren 
surrounding  him.  With  a  countenance  glowing  with  enthu« 
siasm  and  features  quivering  with  emotion,  he  recounted  tale 
after  tale  of  the  persecutions  of  his  family  for  righteousness' 
sake  in  sunny  France,  and  their  sufifering  in  Protestant 
Ulster.  Five  of  his  namesakes  were  then  present,  his  son, 
John  Paris,  and  four  grandsons.  The  group  of  Johns  was 
completed  by  my  grandfather's  colored  body-servant  "John," 
who  stood  an  interested  spectator." 

A  brother  of  John  Paris,  George  Paris,  a  Colonel  in  the 
British  Army,  visited  him  at  Staunton  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolution.    Large  grants  of  land  in  Ohio,  and  in  the  Caro- 


linas,  were  bestowed  upon  him  for  distinguished  services  in 
the  army.  Although  never  in  America  before,  and  not  with 
the  forces  engaged  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  he  was 
compelled  to  shorten  his  visit,  on  account  of  the  feeling  which 
was  then  so  hostile  in  the  United  States  toward  the  mother 
country.  Before  his  return  to  England,  where  he  died,  he 
succeeded  in  securing  to  his  brother  all  his  grants  in  the 
United  States.  The  children  of  John  Paris  were  four  sons 
and  six  daughters,  all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of  one  son 
and  one  daughter,  were  residents  of  Virginia.  He  was  an 
intelligent,  devoted  Christian,  and  until  his  death  a  member 
of  Hebron  Presbyterian  Church,  one  of  the  oldest  Presby- 
terian congregations  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  organized  by 
Dr.  John  Blair  during  a  visit  to  the  State  in  1746. 

"Virginia,  I  love  it !  It  was  the  home  of  my  youth,  and 
in  it  are  the  graves  of  my  fathers." 

Peace  to  their  memory. 


Qis  €arly  Cift  and  €<lucation-Wa$bindton  eol- 

lege— Cbcological  Crainina  at 

Princeton  Seminary 

John  Paris  Hudson,  the  second  son  of  Charles  and  Mary. 
(Paris)  Hudson,  was  born  March  14,  1804,  at  Beverly  Manor, 
near  Staunton,  Virginia.  He  was  bom  in  a  Presbyterian 
household,  felt  its  power  in  early  youth,  and  never  ceased  to 
bless  God  for  its  restraints  and  loving  piety.  His  father, 
Charles  Hudson,  an  Englishman  in  manners  and  appearance, 
was  a  man  of  cultured  literary  and  musical  tastes,  from  whom 
his  sons  inherited  their  decided  fondness  for  mathematics. 
Mr.  Hudson's  early  religious  impressions  were  received  from 
a  mother  who  could  repeat  questions  and  answers  of  both 
the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechism,  and  the  whole  book  of 
Psalms.  Whilst  these  parents  were  anxious  that  their  sons 
should  be  liberally  educated  and  fitted  for  lives  of  usefulness, 
it  was  their  earnest,  prayerful  desire  that  they  should  be  the 
servants  of  God.  On  May  19,  1823,  Mr.  Hudson's  mother 
writes  to  her  son,  at  college:  "I  dedicated  my  two  older 
sons  (George  Davis*  and  John  Paris)  to  the  Master  in  in- 
fancy, the  one  was  taken  and  the  other  left.  I  have  been 
careful  all  j'our  life  to  impress  your  mind  with  piety  and 
virtue.  You  are  blest  with  talents,  and  I  trust  that  Almighty 
Being,  who  watches  over  you  when  far  from  me,  has  blest 
you  with  truth  and  sincerity.  You  have  the  Holy  Scriptures 
for  your  guide,  the  works  of  learned  men,  the  company  of  the 
servants  of  the  Most  High,  and  the  promises  of  your  glorious 
Master,  that  He  will  be  with  you  to  the  end.  You  have  a 
merciful  Master  to  serve  who  knows  all  your  weakness,  and 

•George  Davi»  Hudson  died  January  15,    1810. 


13 


will  make  you  a  conqueror,  and  more  than  a  conqueror 
through  Him  who  loved  you.  Be  faithful  unto  the  end,  and 
you  will  receive  a  crown  of  glory."  He  was  reared  amidst 
the  beautiful  and  picturesque  scenery  of  the  Valley  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  found  in  it  the  source  of  much  pure  thought  and 
noble  inspiration.  Inheriting  a  fondness  for  books,  he  was 
surrounded  by  much  that  was  calculated  to  draw  out  the  best 
that  was  in  him  in  a  literary  as  well  as  a  moral  point  of  view. 
He  grew  to  manhood  in  Bethel  congregation,  organized  in 
1772,  one  of  the  large  congregations  in  the  valley,  where  he 
enjoyed  the  ministrations  of  Dr.  Robert  H.  Chapman  and 
Dr.  Francis  McFarland,  for  some  years  Secretary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Education.  God's  grace  was  ten- 
derly following  him  as  a  chosen  vessel  through  whom  He 
would  send  to  many  precious  souls  the  treasures  of  his  divine 
truth. 

He  was  baptized  in  infancy  by  Rev.  John  Glendy,  D.D., 
who  had  married  his  parents,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
professed  a  hope  in  Christ,  and  united  with  Bethel  Church, 
then  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Robert  Hett  Chapman,  D.D. 
The  love  of  Christ  from  that  time  constrained  him  to  go 
forth  and  labor  in  His  vineyard,  and  he  solemnly  vowed,  if 
God  counted  him  worthy,  to  devote  his  life  to  the  Gospe! 
ministry.  The  Bible  now  became  his  greatest  treasure;  as 
he  made  it  his  counsellor,  and  gadned  skill  in  the  study  and 
use  of  it,  there  grew  upon  him  a  sense  of  wonder  and  admira- 
tion, at  its  perfect  adaptation  to  all  his  necessities. 

He  received  a  thorough  preparation  for  college  at  the 
Staunton  Academy,  an  institution  in  which  men  most  eminent 
in  the  professions  in  the  State  of  Virginia  have  received  their 
preparatory  training.     He  here  read  Horace  and  Homer  in 


a  class  with  William  M.  Peyton  and  Alexander  H.  H.  Stewart, 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  (1850-1853).  He  frequently  spoke 
in  after  years  of  the  great  benefit  he  received  at  this  insti- 
tution, and  of  his  admiration  for  the  Rector,  Rev.  Daniel 
Stephens,  D.D.,  and  the  Professors,  Louis  Jean  Giradin* 
and  Bartholomew  Fuller.  He  was  a  popular  student,  owing 
to  his  attractive  manners  and  his  great  store  of  fun. 

He  writes  :  "The  days  of  my  boyhood  were  very  happy. 
1  loved  the  Virginia  sports.  I  loved  the  Virginia  hills  and 
fields,  and  thought  that  I  was  the  happiest  boy  in  the  State, 
as  I  rode  into  Staunton  to  school,  on  my  little  Kentucky 
pony,  with  a  small  silver  watch  for  a  timepiece,  gifts  from  my 
kind  father,  on  my  twelfth  birthday.  The  Virginians  have 
always  been  noted  for  their  love  of  horses.  In  my  stripling 
days,  the  sound  of  hound  and  horn  was  music  to  my  ears,  and 
no  greater  pleasure  to  me  than  being  allowed  to  attend  a 
'meet.'  One  sunny  morning  as  I  was  starting  to  school, 
my  uncle,  Thomas  Paris,  rode  up  to  our  door,  on  a  horse, 
which  he  informed  me  could  beat  anything  in  the  State  of 
Virginia.  He  was  followed,  as  was  the  custom  of  the  gentry 
of  those  days,  by  his  colored  servant  with  the  saddlebags.  I 
I  looked  at  the  horse  and  thought  my  uncle  was  a  large  man 
on  a  large  horse,  and  I  was  a  little  boy  on  a  pony,  and  ban- 
tered him  for  a  race.  So  off  we  started.  Losing  my  hat  and 
books  by  the  way,  I  rode  mto  Staunton  far  ahead,  and  up  to 
the  Academy  amid  the  cheers  of  the  Faculty  and  students 
assembled  on  the  campus.  A  servant  followed  with  my  lost 
'impedimenta.'  On  returning  home.  I  received  a  severe  rep- 
rimand from  my  good  Presbyterian  mother,  while  my  father, 
with  his  English-loving  tastes,  merely  smiled  at  the  escapade. 

*A  graduate  of  the  University  of  Paris. 


IS 


Uncle  Tom  never  said  horse  to  me  afterward.  Dear  old 
Staunton  is  associated  with  many  pleasant  hours  spent  in  the 
society  of  the  loved  companions  of  my  youthful  days.  Sandy 
Stewart  and  myself  are  now  (1888)  survivors  of  the  rapidly- 
diminishing  circle  of  merry  schoolboys,  who  stood  with 
'heads  uncovered'  on  a  bright  morning  in  the  leafy  month  of 
June,  as  Thomas  Jefferson,  bowing  to  right  and  left,  entered 
the  Academy  with  Judge  Stewart  and  Dr.  Waddell,  two  of 
the  trustees.  We  then  silently  filed  "into  our  seats  to  listen 
to  an  address  by  the  ex-President  of  the  United  States,  whom 
we  very  irreverantly  called,  'Old  King  Tom.'  We  studied 
hard  in  the  days  when  Sandy  and  I  were  head  boys  of  our 
form,  yet  how  eagerly  we  listened  for  old  Giradin's  sharp 
'Abeatis  in  pace,'  which  Peyton  translated  to  the  little  boys 
of  the  lower  form,  'you  can  go  out  into  the  passage' !" 

He  entered  the  Junior  class  in  Washington  College,  now 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  years.  At  the  close  of  his  Junior  year  he 
was  elected  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Staunton  Academy, 
to  fill  a  vacancy  caused   by  the  death   of    Professor   Fuller. 

Rev.  William  S.  Plumer,  D.D.,  then  a  fellow-student, 
thus  writes  to  him  on  his  appointment : 

Lexington,  Va.,  December  13,  1823. 
My  Dear  Friend: — On    inquiring  some    lime    ago  whether    you 
were  expected  to  return  to  college  this  session,  I  was  most  agreeably- 
surprised  to  learn,  that  you  had  been  elected  to  fill  the  honorable 
station  of  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Staunton  Academy. 

I  feel  disposed  to  congratulate  you  highly,  on  the  honorable  re- 
ward of  your  unwearied  diligence  and  industry.  It  must  be  a  pleas- 
ing reflection  to  you,  to  look  back  to  the  time  when  you  were  so 
busily  engaged  in  poring  over  the  volumes  of  literature,  intent  on 
qualifying  yourself  for  filling  with  credit,  some  honorable  station  in 
life,  that  thus  early  you  have  been  called  by  the  respectable  trustees 
of  a  public  seminary  of  learning  to  fill  a  Professor's  chair. 
Sincerely  your  friend, 

William  S.  Plumer. 


i6 


Mathematics  was  a  study  for  which  he  had  much  taste. 
At  sixteen  years  of  age  he  had  surveyed  the  lands  beyond  the 
Blue  Ridge  which  Lord  Fairfax,  of  Greenway  Court,  had 
selected  General  Washington  to  survey  for  him,  and  although 
so  young,  he  was  now  thought  to  have  but  few  equals  as  a 
mathematician  in  his  native  valley. 

John  Howe  Peyton,  at  this  time  an  eminent  lawyer  at  the 
Staunton  Bar,  and  State's  Attorney,  repeatedly  urged  him  to 
enter  upon  the  study  of  the  law  in  his  office,  predicting  for 
him  a  brilliant  future  in  the  profession  in  which  his  younger 
brother  became  distinguished. 

At  the  close  of  one  year,  to  the  regret  of  patrons  and 
pupils,  he  resigned  his  position  at  Staunton,  returned  to 
Lexington  and  entered  the  Senior  class  in  Washington 
College. 

Having  particularly  distinguished  himself  in  linguistic 
studies,  he  was  graduated  with  the  classical  ('the  first  honors) 
of  his  class,  April  15,  1825,  under  the  presidency  of  Rev. 
George  A.  Baxter,  D.D.,  the  best  Greek  scholar  in  a  class, 
which  numbered  among  its  members  Hon.  William  D.  Alex- 
ander, Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Georgia ;  Rev.  William 
S.  Plumer,  D.D.,  Rev.  S.  H.  Blaine,  and  Rev.  William  G. 
Campbell,  of  Virginia ;  Hon.  Edward  E.  Wilkinson,  Judge 
of  the. Superior  Court  of  Mississippi,  and  others  of  equal 
ability. 

French,  the  language  of  his  mother's  family,  he  read  and 
spoke  with  fluency  from  childhood. 

Later  in  life,  wishing  to  become  familiar  with  the  best 
philosophical  and  theological  works  of  the  great  thinkers  of 
Germany,  he  devoted  much  time  to  the  study  of  the  German 
language. 


17 


Immediately  after  graduation,  he  was  elected  Adjunct 
Professor  of  Languages,  Latin  and  Greek,  and  remained  a 
member  of  the  Faculty  four  years,  1825-1829,  at  a  salary  of 
eight  hundred  dollars  per  annum.  On  April  18,  1827,  the 
degree  of  A.M.  was  conferred  upon  him. 

His  home  during  his  entire  residence  in  Lexington  was 
in  the  family  of  William  H.  Letcher,  father  of  John  Letcher, 
afterward  Governor  of  Virginia,  his  younger  brother, 
Robert,  being  with  him  three  years. 

In  college  he  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the 
Graham  Philanthropic  (now  Graham  Lee)  Society.  In  1828 
he  and  Dr.  Henry  Ruffner,  afterward  President  of  the  college, 
were  appointed  to  prepare  the  new  Latin  diploma  for  th" 
Society.  The  diploma  of  Mr.  Hudson  was  accepted  by  the 
Faculty,  as  in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee,  "the  more  cor- 
rect and  finished  piece  of  Latin  composition." 

A  fellow-student  writes :  "He  was  soon  distinguished  in 
college  for  his  gifts  of  oratory.  When  he  arose  to  speak  in 
the  Graham  P.  Society  we  were  all  silent.  This  popularity 
was  not  confined  to  our  own  Society,  but  during  the  years  of 
his  connection  with  the  college,  he  was  appointed  commence- 
ment orator,  both  for  our  own  and  the  rival  society. 

"One  of  the  largest  audiences  in  the  town  of  Lexington 
was  assembled,  when,  with  the  love  of  'such  troops  of  friends,' 
he  addressed  the  Washington  Literary  Society  on  its  anni- 
versary, February  22,  1829." 

During  his  connection  with  Washington  and  Lee,  glow- 
ing names  shine  on  the  roll  of  students,  "who  here  garnered 
the  knowledge,  which  in  after  years  shed  so  gracious  a  light 
upon  themselves  and  their  countrj'":  Socrates  Maupin, 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Virginia ;  John  T.  L.  Preston,. 


of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute;  Francis  T.  Anderson, 
Judge  of  tlie  Superior  Court  of  Appeals  of  Virginia ;  Mat- 
thew Hale  Houston,  M.D.,  of  Richmond;  the  four  Brown 
brothers  (ministers),  Henry,  Joseph,  Samuel  and  William 
Brown,  D.D.;  George  W.  Leyburn,  missionary  to  Greece, 
and  his  brother,  John  Leyburn,  D.D.,  with  many  others  who 
graced  the  professions  of  the  ministry,  the  law,  and  medicine. 
He  spent  six  peaceful  years  at  Lexington,  "bright  pictures 
on  memory's  wall,"  and  here  developed  rare  gifts  in  teach- 
ing. With  great  reluctance  the  faculty  and  trustees  accepted 
his  resignation,  when  he  felt  that  the  time  had  arrived  to 
sever  the  tender  ties  which  bound  him  to  his  Alma  Mater, 
and  enter  upon  the  work  to  which  he  had  consecrated  his  life. 

He  left  Lexington  with  the  intention  of  entering  Union 
Theological  Seminary  at  Hampden  Sidney,  Virginia.  The 
influence  of  his  pastor.  Dr.  McFarland,  who  was  a  Prince- 
ton man,  and  a  meeting  with  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  during 
one  of  his  frequent  visits  to  his  native  valley,  decided  him  to 
go  to  Princeton  with  a  number  of  young  men  from  Lexington 
Presbytery,  alumni  of  Washington  College.  He  entered 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  July  2,  1829. 

At  Harrisonburg,  Virginia,  on  October  30,  1830,  "having 
given  satisfaction  as  to  his  experimental  acquaintance  with 
religion,  his  accomplishments  in  literature,  and  his  pro- 
fidency  in  Divinity,  and  other  studies,  the  Presbytery  of 
Lexington  expressed  their  approbation  of  the  parts  of  trial 
assigned  him,  and  licensed  him  to  preach  the  Gospel."* 

A  friend  writes  to  him  from  Augusta,  shortly  after  his 
licensure : 

utes  of   Lexington    Presbytery;     signed— Francis   McFar- 


19 

"Your  examination  before  the  Presbytery,  and  your  trial 
sermon  met  with  general  approval.  Drs.  Baxter,  Ruffner 
and  McFarland  speak  of  it  in  terms  highly  gratifying. 

"Everyone  who  is  acquainted  with  you,  is  apprised  of 
your  profound  knowledge.  Dr.  Speece,  never  known  to  be 
very  prodigal  of  his  praise,  says  he  'never  knew  a  young  man 
in  his  life  better  acquainted  with  the  whole  system  of  Di- 
vinity.' " 

After  one  year's  residence  in  Princeton  his  health  failed, 
and  he  was  persuaded  by  Dr.  Alexander,  to  accept  for  one 
year,  the  position  as  Principal  of  Union  Academy  at  Snow 
Hill,  Maryland,  the  duties  of  which  he  conducted  very  suc- 
cessfully, assisted  by  Mr.  Lewis  Caton.  Having  been  re- 
cently licensed,  he  was  frequently  called  upon  to  exercise  his 
gifts  in  the  church  at  Snow  Hill,  and  in  the  cluster  of  churches 
in  the  neighborhood,  the  scene  of  the  labors  and  "hallowed 
by  the  memory  of  Francis  McKemie." 

At  the  Seminary  he  took  a  special  interest  in  Biblical 
literature,  reading  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament  in 
Hebrew,  and  much  of  his  theology  in  Latin,  being  generally 
acknowledged  as  one  of  the  best  Hebrew  scholars  in  the  insti- 
tution at  that  time. 

During  his  residence  in  Princeton,  he  was  actively  en- 
gaged in  Sabbath  School  and  church  work,  acting  as  Super- 
intendent of  a  Sabbath  School  five  miles  distant. 

He  was  graduated  in  the  full  three  years'  course  at 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  September  24,  1832.  His 
excellent  education  admirably  fitted  him  to  fill  a  Professor's 
chair,  and  a  Professorship  was  open  for  his  acceptance  at 
Washington  and  Lee,  until  the  completion  of  his  Seminary 
course.     In  after  years,  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Henry 


Ruffner,  he  was  again  earnestly  urged  by  the  Faculty  and 
Trustees  to  return  and  accept  the  Professorship  of  Lan- 
guages. 

With  the  surrender  of  personal  ambition  he  felt  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  engage  more  actively  in  the  Master's  service 
than  he  could  have  an  opportunity  of  doing  when  filling  a 
Professor's  chair,  that  with  Paul,  he  must  "endure  hardness 
as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ."  Life  was  to  him  a  gift 
used  for  Jesus,  and  fully  realizing  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
"They  which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  them- 
selves," he  counted  all  things  loss,  for  the  excellency  of 
Jesus  Christ  his  Lord. 

After  graduation  he  remained  one  term  at  the  Seminary 
as  a  resident  graduate,  when  he  expected  to  return  to  his 
native  State  and  the  Virginia  churches  that  were  seeking  to 
win  him  to  their  bosom. 

Rev.  James  M.  Brown,  D.D.,  then  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Martinsburg,  Virginia,  writing  of  "interesting  and  im- 
portant" churches  in  his  native  State  that  were  anxious  to 
secure  his  services,  kindly  adds : 

"I  feel  pretty  well  acquainted  with  you,  although  our 
intercourse  has  been  limited.  We  came  from  the  same  Pres- 
byterian county,  were  licensed  by  the  same  Presbytery,  were 
educated  at  the  same  college,  and  I  believe  were  members  of 
the  same  literary  society.  I  hope  that  a  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance is  now  commencing,  and  that  we  will  be  workers 
together  in  building  up  the  Church  in  our  native  State.  I 
trust  that  a  visit  here  will  result  in  a  settlement,  and  that  you 
will  be  the  honored  instrument  in  gathering  many  souls  into 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

God  had  willed  his  future  far  otherwise. 


O  tlicre  are  scenes  divinely  fair, 
O'crspread  with  smiles  of  beauty  rare, 
And  spots  of  splendid  glory,  where 
Our  steps  in  gladness  roam: 

We've  thought  of  many  a  palace  grand. 
We've  dreamed  of  many  a  happy  strand, 
But  ah!    they're  nothing  to  the  land 
Where  smiles  our  natal  home. 

Still,  there's  a  better  land  on  high, 
Where  flowers  of  glory  never  die. 
Like  those  beneath  life's  cloudy  sky. 
In  which  our  steps  shall  roam; 

When  time,  with  all  her  dreams  is  past: 
And  death  hath  spent  his  withering  blast — 
O  sweeter  far  in  heaven  at  last. 
We'll  find  an  endless  home. 
1833.  John  Paris  Hudson 


ministerial  Cifc 

Having  accepted  an  invitation  to  visit  the  church  at 
Bloomsburg,  Pennsylvania,  then  vacant  by  the  death  of  Rev. 
Robert  Bryson,  in  October,  1832,  Mr.  Hudson  feU  that  here 
was  a  promising  field  of  usefulness. 

Persons  still  living,  recall  his  arrival  at  Bloomsburg  in 
December,  1832,  when,  with  the  easy  grace  of  a  Southern- 
bred  horseman,  he  rode  into  the  village  on  his  Virginia  horse 
"Saltram." 

His  Virginia  friends  were  by  no  means  confident  that 
he  was  wise  in  his  removal  to  Pennsylvania.  The  step  was 
an  important  one,  as  it  severed  him  from  friends  and  native 
State.  A  Virginian  to  the  last,  he  never  ceased  to  regret 
the  loss  of  that  peculiar  warmth  and  cordiality  which  belong 
so  exclusively  to  the  South  and  frequently  recurred  to  the 
days  of  his  ministry  as  halcyon  ones,  when  he  visited  the 
beloved  Southland,  preaching  and  renewing  the  friendships 
of  his  youth,  and  mingling  with  the  great  gatherings  which 
assembled  at  sacraments,  presbyteries,  and  synods. 

He  was  ordained  as  an  evangelist  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Lexington,  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  April  2,  1833.  "This 
was  done  at  a  pro  re  nata  meeting,  at  which  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Houston  was  Moderator,  the  Rev.  John  D.  Ewing  preached 
the  ordination  sermon,  and  the  Rev.  A.  B.  Davidson  presided 
and  gave  the  charge  to  the  newly-ordained  minister.  After 
these  services  Mr.  Hudson  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  Pres- 
bytery. He  then  applied  for,  and  received  a  dismission  to 
the  Presbytery  of  Northumberland,  Pennsylvania,"*  in  which 
State  his  whole  ministerial  life  was  spent. 

•Extract    from   minutes   of   Lexington   Presbytery. 


23 


He  united  with  the  Presbytery  of  Northumberland, 
October,  1833,  and  served  as  pastor  the  churches  of  Blooms- 
burg,  Briar  Creek,  and  New  Columbia,  for  six  years,  1832- 
1838. 

These  congregations  were  not  new  organizations, 
Bloomsburg  having  been  organized  in  1817  and  Briar  Creek 
some  twenty  years  earlier.  The  charge  was  a  laborious  one. 
His  custom  was  to  preach  regularly  three  times  on  the  Sab- 
bath, with  frequent  services  during  the  week,  extending  his 
labors  to  Orangeville,  which  was  then  in  the  bounds  of  the 
old  Briar  Creek  congregation,  and  occasionally  to  Berwick. 
His  residence  was  Bloomsburg,  where  during  these  years, 
his  home  was  a  pleasant  one,  in  the  family  of  Mr.  William 
McKelvy,  and  of  Dr.  John  Ramsay.  After  his  settlement  at 
Bloomsburg,  two  of  the  aged  ruling  elders,  in  this  pastoral 
charge,  Mr.  John  Chemberlin,  of  Bloomsburg,  and  Mr.  James 
Hutchinson,  of  Briar  Creek,  full  of  years  and  strong  in  faith, 
found  the  rest  which  is  "sweet  after  toil  before  the  Father's 
throne."  Another  member  of  the  Bloomsburg  session,  Mr. 
Joseph  Wardin,  removed  to  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Josiah  Mc- 
Oure  and  Mr.  John  Robinson  were  then  ordained  and  in- 
stalled by  Mr.  Hudson,  as  elders  of  the  Bloomsburg  Church ; 
Mr.  Daniel  Melick  at  Briar  Creek,  and  Mr.  Peter  Leidy  and 
others  at  New  Columbia. 

From  the  commencement,  his  labors  were  crowned  with 
the  divine  blessing  at  Bloomsburg,  and  the  church  was  re- 
vived and  strengthened. 

His  pastorate  was  marked  by  special  outpourings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  during  the  winter  of  1834-35,  and  the  following 
winter,  1835-36,  was  memorable  by  the  ingathering  of  mem- 
bers to  the  communion  of  the  church,  receiving  at  one  time 


24 


forty  members  on  examination,  to  many  of  whom  the  ordi- 
nance of  baptism  was  administered.  During  protracted  ser- 
vices, the  pastor  was  assisted  by  his  intimate  friends  and 
fellow-students  at  Princeton,  Revs.  Robert  Dunlap,  Isaac 
Grier,  P.  B.  Marr,  and  other  clergymen.  The  church  con- 
tinued to  increase  in  membership  until  the  close  of  his  minis- 
try, and  it  was  then  thought  that  it  was  destined  to  become 
the  strongest  congregation  in  the  Presbytery. 

Bloomsburg  was  the  scene  of  Mr.  Hudson's  labors,  in 
the  years  when  "the  days  were  all  summer."  He  ever  after 
regarded  the  church  with  peculiar  interest  and  affection  and 
rejoiced  in  its  prosperity. 

A  call,  attested  by  Rev.  John  Bryson,  Moderator,  was 
presented  to  him  from  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Wil- 
liamsport,  Pennsylvania,  on  October  2,  1837. 

He  was  permitted  by  the  Presbytery  "to  retain  this  call 
for  consideration."  He  did  not  fully  enter  upon  the  duties 
of  this  pastorate  until  the  following  year  (1838).  His  friends 
at  Bloomsburg  who  were  much  attached  to  him,  were  anxious 
to  retain  him  as  their  pastor,  "and  on  the  twenty-first  day 
of  December,  1837,  a  meeting  of  the  congregations  of 
Bloomsburg,  Briar  Creek,  and  New  Columbia  was  held  in 
the  Presbyterian  church  of  Bloomsburg,  for  the  purpose  of 
calling  a  pastor.  In  the  absence  of  the  Rev.  P.  B.  Marr,  who 
had  been  invited  to  preach  a  sermon,  the  Hon.  Leonard 
Rupert  was  elected  Moderator. 

"On  the  votes  being  taken,  it  was  declared  by  the 
Moderator  that  the  Rev.  John  Paris  Hudson  was  unani- 
mously elected  pastor  of  these  congregations,  and  it  was 
Resolved,  That  the  call  be  laid  before  Presbyter/,  to  be 
placed    in  the    hands    of    Rev.  J.  P.  Hudson,  and    that  Col. 


25 


James  McQure  be  the  delegate  from  this  pastoral  charge  to 
attend  the  next  meeting  of  Presbytery,  and  report  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  meeting"* 

This  call  was  for  six  hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  in  regular 
half  yearly  payments,  the  same  salary  for  which  Mr.  Hudson 
was  called  to  Williamsport,  and  which  was  then  the  highest 
salary  paid  to  any  of  the  pastors  in  the  Presbytery. 

It  is  dated  January  i,  1838,  attested  by  Leonard  Rupert, 
Moderator,  and  is  signed  by  one  hundred  and  twelve  persons, 
the  greater  number  of  them  being  heads  of  families ;  by  James 
McClure,  Josiah  McClure,  and  John  Robinson  as  members  of 
session  of  the  Bloomsburg  church,  and  by  the  members  of 
session  of  the  churches  of  Briar  Creek  and  New  Columbia. 

Mr.  Hudson  left  a  deeply  attached  people,  an  interesting 
field  of  usefulness,  and  congregations  in  a  peaceful  and  united 
state  to  enter  upon  his  work  at  Williamsport.  He  was  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  by  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  by  Presbytery,  Revs.  John  Bryson,  P.  B. 
Marr,  and  Isaac  Grier.  While  pastor  of  this  church,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Hetty  Bryson,  youngest  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
John  and  Jane  Montgomery  Bryson,  of  Warrior  Run,  Penn- 
sylvania. In  connection  with  his  pastoral  labors  at  Wil- 
liamsport, he  taught  a  Classical  School  on  Third  Street  from 
October,  1838,  until  October,  1840.  During  this  pastorate 
the  congregation  made  steady  progress  in  all  the  departments 
of  the  missionary  and  other  benevolent  work  of  the  Church. 
The  reviving  and  regenerating  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  felt.  The  heavenly  dews  were  distilled  upon  the  good 
seed  sown.     The  Head  of  the  Church  was  honored  in  these 

•Extract  from  minutes  of  meeting:    signed,    L.eonard   Rupert.   Moderator. 


26 


tokens  of  good,  reviving  the  confidence  of  the  servants  of 
God,  and  encouraging  the  pastor. 

The  weekly  prayer-meetings  and  Sabbath  School  were 
very  interesting  and  encouraging  features  of  the  work.  In 
the  "Religious  Museum,"  Northumberland,  Rev.  Robert  F. 
N.  Smith,  editor,  the  following  item  appeared  on  January  13, 
1819:  "We  are  rejoiced  to  announce  the  organization  of  a 
Sabbath  School  at  Williamsport.  A  number  of  ladies  have 
united  in  this  labor  of  love.  We  trust  that  they  will  not  be 
weary  in  well  doing."  This  was  doubtless  the  first  Sabbath 
School  organized  in  Williamsport.  On  June  19,  1827,  a 
Sabbath  School  was  organized  by  the  Presbyterians,  and 
numbered  two  hundred  and  fifty  members  during  Mr.  Hud- 
son's pastorate. 

The  First  Church  was  then  the  place  of  worship  of  the 
leading  attorneys  of  the  town,  Judges  of  the  Courts,  and  their 
families.  The  Hons.  Ellis  Lewis,  A.  V.  Parsons,  Joseph  An- 
thony, William  F.  Packer,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
James  Armstrong,  Francis  Campbell  and  Robert  Fleming. 
John  B.  Hall,  Tunison  Coryell,  John  Elliott,  Dr.  Samuel  Pol- 
lock, Oliver  Watson,  John  Gibson,  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Armstrong, 
and  others.  Some  of  these  families  afterward  united  with 
Christ  Episcopal  Church  upon  its  organization.  The  mem- 
bers of  session  were  Alexander  Sloan,  John  Torbet,  Henry 
D.  Ellis,  and  Peter  W.  Vanderbilt. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1840,  Mr.  Hudson  was  called  to 
Staunton,  by  the  serious  illness  of  his  beloved  mother. 

It  was  his  privilege  to  sit  beside  her  dying  bed,  vvith  her 
hand  clasped  within  his  own,  when  the  summons  came  for  her 
to  enter  upon  the  higher  service,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Saviour,  whom  she  loved  and  trusted. 


She  entered  into  eternal  rest,  the  rest  for  which  she  so 
much  longed,  on  March   13,  1840,  aged  seventy-two  years. 

In  the  following  year,  his  father  was  called  from  earth  to 
heaven.  As  his  illness  was  short,  death  resulting  from  paraly- 
sis, Mr.  Hudson  did  not  reach  Staunton  in  time  to  receive  his 
dying  testimony.  He  peacefully  passed  away,  his  "only  hope 
in  a  Saviour's  righteousness,"  that  Saviour  whom  he  had 
found  "so  precious"  for  many  years,  and  was  reunited  to  his 
beloved  companion  on  November  12,  1841,  aged  seventy-one 
years. 

Mr.  Hudson  remained  at  Williamsport  until  March,  1841, 
and  then  ministered  to  the  church  of  Shamokin  six  years, 
1841-1847,  and  Chillisquaque  and  Moorsburg,  1847-1850,  in 
connection  with  the  church  at  McEwensville. 

On  the  petition  of  one  hundred  and  seven  (107)  persons, 
members  of  Warrior  Run  Church,  three  of  whom,  Jacob 
Kher,  Isaac  Vincent  and  P.  Kerr  Russell,  Esq.,  were  members 
of  the  Warrior  Run  session,  who  "believed  that  the  cause  of 
Christ  would  be  advanced  by  the  organization  of  another 
Presbyterian  congregation  in  the  Warrior  Run  country,"  the 
church  of  McEwensville  was  organized  on  May  3,  1842,  by 
the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Northumber- 
land:  Revs.  D.  M.  Barber,  James  Williamson,  and  elder 
John  B.  Boyd. 

On  the  organization  of  this  church,  of  which  lie  was  the 
founder,  Mr.  Hudson  was  called  and  remained  the  pastor 
twenty-one  years. 

He  was  installed  over  this  charge  by  the  Committee  ap- 
pointed:    Revs.  David    Hull,  P.  B.  Marr,   and   Isaac  Grier. 

During  this  pastorate  he  was  Principal  of  the  Turbutville 
Academy  ten  years,  and  of  the  McEwensville  Academy  three 


years,  succeeding  Mr.  C.  Low  Rynearson. 

His  work  at  Shamokin  was  blessed  by  many  accessions 
to  the  church. 

After  a  series  of  meetings  continued  through  several 
weeks,  he  writes  to  Mrs.  Hudson,  January  15.  1843: 

"My  intention  when  I  left  home  was  to  return  on  Mon- 
day night,  but  our  meetings  have  continued  day  and  night, 
until  last  night. 

"There  are  now  fifty-four  persons  who  have  given  their 
names  as  inquirers,  the  greater  number  of  whom  have  expe- 
rienced a  hope  in  Christ.  I  have  appointed  the  Communion, 
on  next  Sabbath,  and  have  more  labor  to  perform  in  preach- 
ing and  in  conversing  with  the  young  converts,  and  those 
who  are  inquiring,  than  I  can  possibly  attend  to." 

On  the  Sabbath  referred  to,  he  received  to  the  com- 
munion of  the  church  fifty-six  on  examination. 

One  present  at  these  meetings  remarks:  "How  those 
precious  revival  scenes  linger  in  my  memory !  It  seems  but 
yesterday,  although  more  than  twoscore  years  have  passed. 
I  see  once  more  the  things  that  were  in  days  gone  by.  I 
seem  again  to  see  and  hear  Mr.  Hudson,  and  the  three  minis- 
ters assisting  him  (who  were  all  fellow-students  at  Prince- 
ton), engaged  in  preaching,  prayer  and  praise.  The  church, 
its  worshippers,  its  pastor,  are  before  me.  I  seem  to  hear 
the  very  tones  of  his  voice  directing  the  penitent  to  the  Lamb 
of  God.  I  recall  particularly  one  solemn  occasion,  when  the 
congregation  being  dismissed  after  an  evening's  service,  an 
invitation  was  given  for  those  who  desired  to  remain,  not  att 
individual  left  the  church  !  All  took  their  seats !  The  solemn 
silence  was  broken  by  Mr.  Hudson  coming  down  from  the 
pulpit,  taking  his  place  at  the  table,  and  starting  a  hymn  in 


29 


his  clear,  strong  voice,  which  filled  the  whole  church  with 
melody,  the  most  wonderful  voice  I  thought  that  I  had  ever 
heard.  The  tune  was  one  never  before  heard  by  us,  but 
afterward  learned  and  sung  throughout  the  entire  region. 
Mr.  Hudson  was  attractive  in  manners  and  personal  appear- 
ance, and  honored  his  calling  by  his  dignified  bearing  and  sin- 
cere interest  in  his  fellow-men.  Placed  in  circumstances  like 
these,  calculated  to  draw  out  the  best  gifts  of  pulpit  elo- 
quence, his  fluency  and  command  of  language  were  remark- 
able." An  elder  of  the  church,  remarked  to  him  shortly 
before  his  death,  "when  you  reach  heaven,  Mr.  Hudson,  you 
will  be  welcomed  by  the  converts  of  that  precious  work." 
In  January,  1844,  thirty  more  were  added  to  the  member- 
ship of  the  church. 

Immediately  after  its  organization,  the  congregation  at 
McEwensville,  erected  the  brick  church  building  in  the  village 
which  was  named  Bethel,  to  the  building  of  which  Mr.  Hudson 
contributed  one  year's  salary,  and  some  years  later,  1853, 
they  purchased  the  congregational  cemetery  near  the  vil- 
lage. During  his  long  and  useful  pastorate  at  McEwens- 
ville, the  congregation  increased  in  membership  under  the 
faithful  preaching  of  the  Word  of  God,  which  liveth  and 
abideth  forever.  The  winters  of  1855,  1856,  1857,  and  1858 
were  marked  by  large  accessions  to  the  church,  following 
special  revival  services.  The  good  old  Presbyterian  names 
of  Montgomery,  Bryson,  McCormick,  Sample,  Caldwell, 
Russell,  Gudykuntz,  Vincent,  Hutchinson,  Rynearson,  Smith, 
Everett,  Kehr,  Burrowes,  Oakes,  Taggart,  Cameron,  Nicely, 
Watson,  Armstrong  and  others  were  found  in  the  member- 
ship, and  in  the  officers  of  this  church.  Robert  McCormick 
and  Charles  Gudykuntz  were  active  and  influential  members. 


30 


the  former  a  trustee  for  many  years,  and  the  latter  a  ruling 
elder.  Here  as  in  all  other  places  of  his  ministry,  he  greatly 
endeared  himself  to  the  young  of  his  congregation,  over 
whom  he  acquired  a  strong  influence.  In  late  years,  since  the 
close  of  his  pastorate,  the  church  suffered  much  by  removals, 
its  sons  and  daughters  are  scattered  in  many  of  the  states  of 
the  Union,  the  church  of  Milton  has  been  strengthened  from 
its  membership  and  three  decades  after  its  own  organization, 
the  church  at  Watsontown  was  organized  by  members  of  the 
McEwensville  and  Warrior  Run  churches,  two  of  the 
original  elders  of  the  Watsontown  congregation,  Robert 
M.  Russell  and  William  B.  Bryson,  being  members  of  the 
McEwensville  session. 

Mr.  Hudson's  home  from  the  time  of  his  leaving  Williams- 
port,  in  1841,  until  1866,  was  at  Turbutville  and  McEwens- 
ville, in  the  bounds  of  the  McEwensville  congregation,  in  the 
midst  of  attractive  scenery,  "fertile  plains,  and  wooded  hills," 
surroundings  much  to  be  admired,  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury, the  scene  of  the  labors  of  his  sainted  father-in-law,  the 
Rev.  John  Bryson,  part  of  whose  ministerial  charge,  Chillis- 
quaque,  he  had  very  pleasantly  served  for  three  years  in  con- 
nection with  McEwensville. 

After  his  resignation  at  McEwensville,  January,  1863, 
he  supplied  the  First  church  at  Mifflinburg  until  he  received 
a  call,  November  11  ,  1865,  to  the  Lick  Run  church,  at 
Jacksonville,  Pa.,  to  which  he  ministered  five  years.  He 
united  with  the  Presbytery  of  Huntingdon,  at  McVeytown, 
April  10,  1866,  and  in  May,  1866,  was  installed  pastor  of  the 
Lick  Run  church,  by  the  committee  appointed.  Rev.  William 
J.  Gibson,  D.D.,  a  former  pastor,  Rev.  J.  H.  Barnard,  and 
Rev.  W.  B.  McKee.    This  period  of  the  church's  history  was 


marked  by  a  greater  number  of  additions  than  for  some 
years  previous,  no  communion  season  passing  without  some 
accessions  to  the  membership  of  the  church.  The  Sabbath 
School  work  was  encouraging,  and  the  attendance  at  both, 
the  Sabbath  and  week  day  meetings  very  gratifying. 

Lick  Run  is  one  of  the  old  historic  congregations  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Huntingdon.  Two  large  and  flourishing 
congregations  in  Western  cities  were  organized  by  members 
of  this  church  alone. 

In  August,  1870,  Mr.  Hudson  removed  to  Williamsport, 
which  city  was  his  home  until  his  death,  to  take  charge  of 
the  City  High  School,  of  which  he  was  Principal,  1870-187X. 
He  united  with  the  Presbytery  of  Northumberland,  October 
1870,  severing  with  regret  his  pleasant  associations  with  the 
brethren  of   Huntingdon   Presbytery,  of  whom   he   writes: 

"I  have  seldom  met  with  a  body  of  more  dignified 
Christian  gentlemen,  reminding  me  much  of  dear  old  Lex- 
ington, in  their  manner  of  conducting  business.  The  kind- 
ness, courtesy,  deference  and  fraternal  feeling  displayed  in 
the  midst  of  their  most  animated  discussions  exhibited  much 
of  the  spirit  of  Christ." 

He  ministered  to  the  churches  of  Montoursville  and 
Pennsdale,  1870-1875.     Linden,  1871-1884. 

In  July,  1875,  while  on  a  visit,  with  his  sister-in-law. 
Miss  Jane  M.  Bryson,  to  her  old  home  in  Northumberland 
County,  they  were  both  thrown  from  the  carriage  in  which 
they  were  riding  and  severely  (the  one  fatally)  injured. 
Miss  Bryson,  "a  lady  of  cultivated  tastes,"  who  had  endeared 
herself  to  all  who  knew  her,  by  her  "lovely  Christian  charac- 
ter" died  two  days  later. 

Mr.  Hudson  never  entirely  recovered,  but  suffered  from 


32 


the  effects  of  the  injuries  receivd  until  his  death.  He  con- 
tinued, however,  to  preach  regularly  at  Linden  alone,  until 
January,  1884.  Having  then  almost  reached  his  eightieth 
year,  and  completed  the  fifty-first  of  his  active  ministry,  he 
was  compelled  by  the  partial  loss  of  sight,  caused  by  a  hemor- 
rhage of  the  retina,  to  resign  his  much  loved  work,  and  com- 
mit to  another's  care  "the  little  flock"  to  whom  eminently  a 
wise  counsellor,  and  spiritual  guide,  he  had  ministered  for 
thirteen  years. 

In  his  pastoral  farewell,  to  the  people  of  this  charge  on 
the  last  Sabbath  of  the  year,  he  could  "give  thanks  to  God" 
for  the  many  acts  of  kindness  received,  in  the  years,  in  which, 
they  were  associated  as  pastor  and  people,  and  commend 
them  to  His  grace  and  protection,  as  he  parted  with  them 
in  peace  and  love. 


ebaractcristies-Tllness  and  Deatb 

In  all  the  years  of  his  busy  life,  his  influence  and  friends 
extended  beyond  the  Church,  to  which  he  had  pledged  him- 
self, while  his  Catholic  spirit  commanded  the  respect  of  Chris- 
tians of  all  denominations.     His  motto  ever  was — 
"Pro  Deo,  pro  ecclesia,  et  hominun  salute." 

A  true  patriot  during  the  years  of  civil  strife,  between 
the  North  and  South,  when  public  meetings  were  called,  he 
is  remembered  as  a  central  figure. 

In  a  State,  where  all  gentlemen  were  members  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  he  became  an  active  and  zealous  member 
of  the  Augusta  Lodge,  of  Staunton,  and  of  the  Rockbridge 
Lodge  of  Lexington.  He  was  by  inheritance  a  Mason,  as 
grandfather,  uncles,  and  cousins  were  all  members  of  the 
order.  After  coming  to  Pennsylvania,  he  never  fully  identi- 
fied himself  with  the  fraternity,  although  in  one  place  of  his 
residence,  he  received  many  acts  of  kindness  from  members 
of  the  Knights  Templar  Commandery,  and  was  invited  to 
unite  with  them  and  act  as  their  Chaplain. 

In  early  life  in  deep  sympathy  with  an  oppressed  race, 
he  taught  his  father's  slaves  to  read  and  write,  and  loved  to 
talk  to  them  of  Him,  whom  to  know  is  life  eternal.  He  was 
regarded  by  them  with  the  warmest  afTection,  and  his  letters 
when  far  away,  were  read  by  them  with  streaming  eyes,  and 
preserved  as  their  most  precious  treasures.  At  the  death  of 
his  father,  in  1841,  he  rejoiced  that  these  attached  family  ser- 
vants received,  by  will,  their  free  papers.  To  the  close  of  his 
life  he  was  a  sincere  friend  to,  and  deeply  interested  in,  the 
the  education  and  elevation  of  the  freedmen. 


34 


He  loved  the  Westminster  doctrine  and  polity  and 
preached  the  strongest  Calvinistic  tenets.  Thoroughly  loyal 
to  the  Standards  of  the  Church,  his  anxiety  was  great  that 
it  should  not  be  moved  from  its  old  foundation. 

While  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  took  precedence  over 
all  other  work,  he  never  lost  sight  of  education.  An  associate 
of  scholars,  he  was  deeply  interested  in  colleges  and  other 
educational  institutions.  In  addition  to  his  own  literary  so- 
ciety at  Washington  and  Lee,  (the  Graham-Lee),  he  was 
elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  American  Whig  Society, 
of  Princeton  College,  of  the  Philomathaen  Literary  Society  of 
Pennsylvania  College,  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  and  of  the  Diag- 
nothian  Literary  Society  of  Franklin  and  Marshall  College, 
at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  and  of  the  Washington  Literary  Society 
of  Lafayette  College,  for  which  colleges  he  had  prepared 
many  students. 

He  was  a  man  of  refined  literary  taste,  distinguished  as 
an  educator,  and  "acknowledged  as  an  authority  in  theology 
and  literature."*  He  was  instrumental  in  training  both  the 
mental  and  spiritual  powers  of  many  young  men  who  have 
since  risen  to  distinction  in  the  ministry,  and  other  profes- 
sions. He  retained  his  scholarly  tastes  throughout  life,  de- 
lighting in  metaphysical  research,  with  a  taste  and  facility 
for  historical  study,  he  was  equally  at  home  in  the  annals  of 
ecclesiastical  record,  and  th^  latest  scientific  discoveries, 
reading  with  delight  the  pages  of  Plato,  and  Sophacles,  and 
keeping  up  his  daily  readings  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  origin- 
al languages.  The  Greek  of  the  New  Testament,  by  con- 
stant study  had  become  very  familiar.  To  the  last  of  his 
reading,  he  daily  perused  one  chapter  each  of  Hebrew,  and 
of  the  Greek  Testament. 


35 

During  his  entire  ministerial  life,  he  was  diligent  in  Bible 
class  and  Sabbath  bchool  instruction,  in  revival  work,  when 
he  preached  the  Gospel,  with  simplicity  and  power,  and  loved 
to  guide  the  penitent  to  the  cross  of  Christ,  in  pastoral  visi- 
tation, and  until  the  close  of  his  life,  was  a  zealous  advocate 
of  the  missionary,  and  all  other  benevolent  schemes  of  the 
Church. 

Possessing  a  mind  fitted  for  accurate  distinctions,  and 
logical  discussions,  he  was  positive  in  his  convictions,  ready 
in  debate,  and  warmly  attached  to  the  doctrine  and  govern- 
ment of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  A  Presbyterian  by  heritage 
and  conviction,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  express  his  strong  in- 
dignation against  those  who  professed  to  be  Presbyterians, 
but  were  disloyal  to  the  principles  they  professed. 

He  was  a  diligent  attendant  upon  the  meetings  of  Pres- 
bytery and  Synod,  and  fittingly  represented  his  Presbytery 
in  the  General  Assemblies  of  1834,  1847,  1864,  the  Reunion 
Assembly  at  Pittsburg,  in  1869,  and  the  Assembly  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  in  1875. 

He  was  greatly  beloved  in  his  pastoral  charges,  where 
his  work  was  blessed  in  many  precious  ingatherings,  and  the 
rich  joy  of  the  harvest  experienced  and  he  was  much  en- 
couraged by  young  men  in  his  several  pastorates,  devoting 
themselves  to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  and  going 
forth  to  proclaim  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  "A 
striking  personal  appearance,  dignified  demeanor,  fine  voice 
and  careful  preparation  rendered  his  ministrations  attractive, 
and  his  labors  successful."*  His  sermons  were  delivered 
without  manuscript,  and  were  marked  by  fine  literary  taste, 
clear,  strong  and  convincing  logic,  purity  of  style,  vigor  of 
thought,   soundness  of  doctrine,  and  rich   Christian  experi- 


36 


ence,  combined  with  an  impressive  oratorical  delivery. 

He  will  be  remembered  as  a  beautiful  type  of  a  cultivated 
Christian  gentleman,  and  a  minister  wholly  and  unreservedly 
consecrated  to  Christ.  How  far  reaching  the  influence  of  this 
life,  of  eighty-five  years,  of  almost  sixty  years  of  faithful  ser- 
vice in  the  ministry,  no  one  can  pretend  to  measure,  but  who 
can  doubt  that  now  his  voice  is  still,  in  other  years  his  work 
will  be  continued,  by  those  who  sat  under  his  teachings,  and 
have  caught  something  of  the  impress  of  his  spirit,  of  his 
wisdom,  piety,  devotion  to  the  truth,  zeal  for  the  honor  of 
God,  and  love  for  the  souls  of  men.  His  rich  personal  ex- 
perience was  shown  in  a  countenance  radiant,  with  uncom- 
mon spiritual  joys,  especially  in  his  sermons  and  addresses 
at  the  Lord's  table,  in  his  ministrations  of  love  and  sympathy 
in  the  sick  room,  and  in  his  family  prayers  which  he  con- 
tinued until  the  day  previous  to  his  death. 

Prayer  was  his  "vital  breath,"  "his  native  air."  It  was 
"his  watchword  at  the  gates  of  death."  He  entered  "heaven 
with  prayer."  He  had  passed  through  many  trials  in  life, 
had  followed  many,  who  were  dear  to  him,  to  the  grave, 
and  was  enfeebled  by  declining  health,  in  his  last  years,  and 
much  sufifering  patiently  borne,  but  his  faith  in  God  was 
never  shaken,  and  he  ever  turned  upon  his  friends,  the  smil- 
ing face,  which  in  the  days  of  his  full  health,  had  won  so 
many  hearts  to  him,  and  which,  combined  with  his  rare 
charms  of  mind  and  manner  in  social  intercourse,  had  in- 
woven with  the  web  of  his  life  many  precious  threads  of 
friendship  and  companionship  spun  by  Northern  and  South- 
ern hands. 

It  is  seldom  one  is  found  so  beautifully  gentle!  Age 
had  not  embittered  but  sweetly  mellowed  him.    He  loved  tht< 


37 


Word  of  God,  his  faith  was  strong.  He  had  frequently  re- 
marked, "It  is  only  when  we  are  willing  to  be  used  as  instru- 
ments in  the  Master's  hands  that  our  work  is  successful  or 
abiding."  These  words  gathered  peculiar  force  when  his  own 
willingness  to  suffer  and  endure  hardness  was  severely  tested 
— when  life's  lesson  learned,  he  could  then  make  his  own  the 
language — "Shall  we  receive  good  at  the  hand  of  God,  and 
shall  we  not  receive  evil?"  "Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I 
trust  in  Him."  Thus  filled  with  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  in  the 
full  possession  of  his  intellectual  powers,  he  daily  ripened 
for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  continued  to  climb  to  a  sub- 
lime height  of  clear  faith  and  trust,  in  God,  until  he  was 
done  with  the  sorrows  of  earth  and  was  "to  drink  forever- 
more  of  the  great  river  of  the  Water  of  Life."  A  believer 
of  whom  it  could  be  said  he  was  "a  garden  of  fruit  trees," 
and  so  was  "useful,"  but  he  also  had  "spices,"  and  so  was 
attractive. 

Although  in  very  frail  health  for  six  years,  those  who 
loved  him,  and  were  constantly  with  him,  saw  with  sorrow 
that  he  was  growing  perceptibly  weaker  in  the  last  year  of 
his  Hfe.  He  frequently  spoke  of  his  approaching  death,  say- 
ing: "Whether  life  or  death  it  is  all  peace."  "All  the  days  of 
my  appointed  time  I  will  wait  till  my  change  come."  On  the 
first  day  of  January,  1890,  he  remarked,  "God  has  mercifully 
spared  my  life  to  see  another  'happy  New  Year,'  in  all  human 
probability  the  last  to  me  upon  earth.  I  am  in  the  hands  of 
a  gracious  and  merciful  Father,  and  His  dealings  with  me 
have  ever  been  those  of  love,  and  I  feel  certain  that  the  few 
days  that  remain  to  me  will  overflow  with  His  goodness  and 
mercy."  His  life  was  his  preparation  for  death.  His  own 
words  were,  "This  life  is  the  preparation  for  death.  It  matters 


38 


very  little  when,  where,  or  how  we  die,  if  we  are  prepared. 
The  only  safety  is  in  Christ.  The  precious  blood  of  Christ 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.    He  is  my  only  trust." 

A  fellow  worker  with  the  wise  and  good,  with  Him  who 
made  them  what  they  were,  having  early  begun  to  serve  God 
until  the  dose  of  life,  he  could  still  chant  his  "morning  song." 

He  sweetly  fell  asleep  at  Wilhamsport,  Pa.,  on  Friday, 
January  24,  1890,  after  a  few  days'  illness  of  la  grippe.  His 
death  was  the  peaceful  and  triumphant  close  of  a  well  spent 
life,  rejoicing  in  God,  his  Saviour. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  brief  illness  which  he  felt 
from  the  first  would  be  the  last,  his  early  days  seemed 
to  pass  before  him  in  review.  On  the  last  day  he  sat 
up,  he  referred  to  his  licensure,  the  fifty-ninth  anniversary 
of  which  had  passed,  to  his  dislike  to  the  text  assigned  him 
by  the  Presbytery,  Romans  9 :  3,  describing  the  meeting  at 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia,  and  recurring  to  the  many  loved 
friends  and  relatives  in  attendance.  Later  on  in  his  illness, 
he  related  his  last  conversation  with  his  "dear  dying  mother" 
as  she  testified  what,  to  her,  would  be  the  chief  joy  of  Heaven. 
With  holy  rapture,  he  recounted  God's  gracious  dealings 
with  his  own  soul,  and  the  goodness  and  mercy  which  had 
followed  him  all  the  days  of  his  life,  refeiring  to  such  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  as  the  twenty-third,  the  one  hundred  and 
third  Psalms,  and  the  eighth  of  Romans,  as  "precious, 
precious,  wonderful." 

For  the  last  time  with  failing  strength,  he  united  with 
his  sorrowing  children,  in  a  prayer,  in  language  approaching 
the  sublime,  in  its  confident  faith  and  trust,  as  he  committed 
his  loved  ones  to  the  care  of  a  covenant-keeping  God.  His 
last  utterances  were,  "I  feel  that  my  powers  are  all  failing." 


39 


"My  race  is  run."  "How  soon  the  dream  of  life  is  over." 
"It  is  such  a  comfort  to  me  to  be  here,  with  all  my  dear  chil- 
dren." "Jesus  is  my  only  trust."  "There  remaineth  a  rest, 
to  the  people  of  God."  Thus  sustained  and  soothed  by  an 
unfaltering  trust,  he  entered  upon  the  joy  of  his  Lord,  before 
the  Father's  throne,  welcomed  to  that  heavenly  joy  by  many, 
who  can  ascribe  their  salvation  under  God  to  him. 


"Mark   the   perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright;    for  the   end 
of  that  man  is  peace." 

"Calm  on  the  bosom  of  thy  God, 

Fair  spirit!    rest  thee  now! 
E'en  while  with  us,  thy  footsteps  trod, 

His  seal  was  on  thy  brow." 

"Dust  to  its  narrow  house  beneath! 

Soul  to  its  place  on  high! 
They  who  have  seen  thy  look  in  death. 

No  more  may  fear  to  die." 


Tun<ral    Services,    and    Other   Cestimonials   of 
Respect 

The  funeral  services  at  which  his  brethren  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Northumberland  officiated,  and  other  ministers  of 
the  city  were  present,  were  held  at  his  late  residence  at 
Williamsport,  Pa.,  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  January  28.  1890, 
and  were  very  largely  attended. 

The  services  were  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Adolos  Allen, 
then  pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  church  of  Williams- 
port,  and  were  opened  by  the  chanting  of  the  twenty-third 
Psalm  by  the  choir  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of  the  Cove- 
nant. 

Suitable  selections  of  Scripture  were  read  by  Rev.  J.  B. 
Kennedy,  then  of  the  First  church,  and  addresses  were  de- 
livered by  Rev.  D.  J.  Waller,  Sr.,  D.D.,  of  Bloomsburg ;  Rev. 
Joseph  Stevens,  D.D.,  of  Jersey  Shore,  and  Rev.  C.  B.  Gil- 
lette, of  Elmira,  N.  Y.  Dr.  Waller  opened  his  remarks  with 
words  like  these :  "We  have  come,  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of 
respect,  to  our  brother  in  the  Gospel.  I  thought  on  my  way 
here  to-day  that  it  was  just  fifty  years  since  I  first  preached 
for  him  in  Williamsport,  and  that  I  am  now  coming  to  attend 
his  funeral  at  the  same  place.  I  was  his  successor  at  Blooms- 
burg, in  a  congregation  where  I  found  his  r.ame  a  household 
word,  loved  and  honored. 

"Ours  has  been  an  unbroken  friendship  for  fifty  years. 
During  all  these  years,  I  cannot  recall  a  single  word  or  look 
to  mar  the  harmony  of  our  intercourse.  Even  in  the  most 
heated  discussions  in  our  ecclesiastical  meetings,  when  he 
was  invariably  on  the  side  of  right,  nothing  ever  occurred  to 
disturb  this  fraternal  feeling." 


Dr.  Waller  then  paid  a  fitting  tribute  to  his  ripe  scholar- 
ship, and  his  long  and  useful  ministry. 

Rev.  Dr.  Stevens  in  his  opening  remarks,  referred  to  his 
intimacy  of  thirty-nine  years  with  his  deceased  brother,  and 
spoke  at  length  upon  his  character  as  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  and  his  influence  as  a  Presbyter,  saying,  "for  many 
years  he  examined  all  the  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the 
Presbytery.  We  all  thought  no  one  could  do  it  as  well  as  he." 
He  referred  with  much  feeling  to  the  pure  Christian  life  of 
the  deceased,  the  blessedness  of  the  rest  upon  which  he  had 
entered,  and  the  sure  hope  to  his  sorrowing  children,  "if 
they  live,  as  he  lived,  they  will  surely  meet  again." 

Rev.  Mr.  Gillette  spoke  of  the  eminent  abilities,  the 
faithful  ministry  and  useful  Christian  life  of  his  departed 
brother,  and  very  kindly  alluded  to  his  pleasant  intercourse 
with  him,  for  some  years  when  a  member  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Northumberland ;  having  been  examined  by  him  upon 
entering  the  Presbytery. 

Brief  reminiscences  were  given  by  Rev.  Adolos  Allen 
and  Rev.  James  W.  Boal,  D.D..  then  pastor  of  Newberry 
Presbyterian  church. 

The  following  letter  from  Rev.  Joseph  Nesbitt,  D.D..  of 
Lock  Haven,  who  was  expected  to  take  part  in  the  funeral 
services,  was  then  read  by  Mr.  Allen : 

Lock  Haven,  January  2^,   1890. 
Rev.  Adolos  Allen, 

My  Dear  Brother:— I  am  recovering  from  an  attack  of  la  grippe. 
I  am  still  confined  to  the  house.  I  very  much  regret  that  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  attend  the  funeral  to-morrow..  When  I  became  con- 
nected with  the  Presbytery,  twenty-nine  years  ago.  Mr.  Hudson  was 
a  conspicuous  member  of  it.  He  and  a  few  others  were  looked  up 
to,  as  authorities,  on  Presbyterial  usage,  and  ecclesiastical  law.  The 
impression  he   made  upon  us,   in   the  beginning  has   only  deepened 


as  the  years  roll  by.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar,  a  systematic  thinker, 
an  established  believer.  He  had  clear  and  comprehensive  views  of 
the  truth  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  and  this  truth  he  expounded 
and  applied  with  zeal  and  fidelity  and  diligence.  He  preached  as 
hebelieved  and  felt,  and  lived  and  worshipped  as  he  preached,  and 
now  at  the  end  of  a  long,  faithful  ministry,  has  entered  upon  his 
reward. 

Having  fought  the  good  fight,  finished  the  course,  and  kept  the 
faith,  there  is  laid  up  for  him,  the  crown  or  righteousness,  which 
God  the  righteous  Judge  shall  give  to  all  them  that  love  his  ap- 
pearing. While  his  family  has  the  fullest  reason  for  consolation,  in 
his  life  of  faith  upon  the  Son  of  God,  they  may  be  assured  at  the 
same  time,  of  the  cordial  sympathy  of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry, 
and  of  all  his  Christian  friends. 

With  kindest  regards, 

J.  Nesbit. 

The  hymn,  "How  blest  the  righteous  when  he  dies,"  was 
then  sung  by  the  choir.  The  closing  prayer  was  offered  by 
Mr.  Allen,  and  the  benediction  pronounced  by  Dr.  Waller. 

It  was  a  funeral  service  which  bore  the  thoughts  to  the 
verge  of  Heaven,  the  light  of  the  resurrection,  and  of  im- 
mortality, dispelling  the  gloomy  shades  of  death,  and  shed- 
ding a  halo  of  light  upon  the  grave. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  after  a  few  selections  were 
read  from  the  Manual,  used  by  Mr.  Hudson  on  funeral  oc- 
casions, and  prayer  offered  by  Rev.  Mr.  Kennedy,  the  re- 
mains were  taken  for  interment  to  McEwensville,  amid  the 
scenes  of  an  early  pastorate,  where  the  funeral  cortege  was 
met  by  many  friends  and  former  parishioners.  The  services 
at  the  grave  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Boal,  assisted  by 
the  Rev.  G.  L.  Van  Alen,  then  pastor  of  the  Watsontown 
Presbyterian  church,  and  in  the  brilliant  sunlight  of  a  Janu- 
ary afternoon,  this  "new  treasure"  was  left  to  slumber  in  the 
silent  dust,  by  the  side  of  his  deceased  wife,  in  the  Presby- 
terian    Cemetery    at    McEwensville,    which    contains    the 


43 


"sacred  relics"  of  the  Revs.  John  and  Robert  Bryson. 

"They  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as 
the  stars  forever  and  ever." 

The  surviving  children  of  Mr.  Hudson  are  three 
daughters  and  one  son.  His  wife,  two  sons  and  a  daughter 
had  preceded  him  to  the  spirit-world. 

Mrs.  Hetty  Bryson  Hudson  died  at  Williamsport,  Feb- 
ruary 25,  1876.  She  was  born  at  her  father's  residence,  near 
Warrior  Run  church,  Northumberland  County,  Pa.  Her 
father,  the  Rev.  John  Bryson,  for  more  than  fifty  years  was 
the  beloved  pastor  of  the  congregations  of  Warrior  Run,  and 
Chillisquaque.  Her  education  was  commenced  under  her 
father's  guidance,  who  taught  her  to  read  Latin  with  her 
brother,  Robert,  and  completed  at  the  old  Milton  Academy, 
under  Rev.  Dr.  David  Kirkpatrick,  and  at  Mrs.  Plumm's 
Young  Ladies'  Seminary,  at  Northumberland. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  she  united  with  the  Warrior 
Run  church,  then  under  the  pastoral  care  of  her  father. 

She  was  a  woman  of  marked  strength  of  character, 
lovely  as  a  wife,  mother,  friend,  "zealous  of  good  works, 
serving  the  Lord  with  all  humility  and  readiness  of  mind,  and 
possessing  much  of  the  gentleness  and  meekness  of  Christ." 
After  a  brief  but  severe  illness,  "with  praise  on  her  lips,  and 
praise  in  her  heart,"  she  went  to  join  "the  spirits  of  the 
just  made  perfect,  and  the  great  assembly  of  the  redeemed, 
who  praise  God  forevermore." 

Hon.  Robert  M.  Hudson,  the  only  brother  of  Mr.  Hud- 
son, died  at  Fincastle,  Virginia,  April  19,  1869,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-seven  years. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Staunton  Academy, 
and  was  graduated  with  the  classical  honors,  at  Washington 


and  Lee  University  in  the  class  of  1828.  He  then  passed 
through  the  two  years'  course  of  Judge  Baldwin's  Law 
School  at  Staunton,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Staunton. 

He  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the  law  in  Staunton, 
but  shortly  after  removed  to  Fincastle,  Virginia.  He  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  and  in 
1853  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Circuit  (Superior)  Court  of 
Virginia,  which  office  he  held  until  his  death.  He  united  with 
the  Bethel  church  at  an  early  age,  under  the  ministry  of  Dr. 
Francis  McFarland,  and  uniformly  sustained  the  character  of 
a  faithful,  devoted  Christian. 

Judge  Hudson  was  an  accomplished  scholar,  and  was 
distinguished  for  his  eminent  legal  and  judicial  abilities. 

Mr.  Hudson  wrote  to  his  son,  at  Lafayette  College, 
Easton,  Pa. : 

Howard,  Pa.,  May  13,  1869. 

My  Dear  Sm: — I  have  received  by  letter,  from  my  niece,  Mary 
F.  Williams,  formerly  Mary  F.  Hudson,  the  sad  intelligence  of  the 
recent  death  of  my  only  brother,  Robert  M.  Hudson.  His  health, 
she  informs  me,  was  delicate  during  the  winter,  but  he  rallied  to- 
wards spring,  travelled  to  Richmond  and  Washington  City  and  was 
present  at  the  inauguration  of  President  Grant.  On  his  return  home, 
he  seemed  gradually  to  decline  until  he  passed  away  in  great  peace, 
and  the  assured  hope  of  a  crown  of  life.  His  family  are  thus  be- 
reaved of  a  tender  and  affectionate  husband  and  parent.  I  call  up 
in  sad  remembrance,  the  pleasant  bright  eyed  boy,  learning  his 
Latin  lessons,  with  my  assistance,  while  seated  on  my  knee,  and  then 
the  honest  pride  and  pure  delight,  v,'ith  which  I  witnessed  his  rapid 
progress  in  the  Grammar  school  and  college  closing  with  the  diploma 
and  first  honors  of  his  Alma  Mater.  Afterward  his  career  was 
brilliant — rising  as  he  did  to  the  first  rank  of  a  practitioner  at  the 
bar,  in  the  highest  courts  of  his  native  State,  and  then  appointed 
Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Law  and  Chancery  in  which  position 
he  maintained  an  unblemished  reputation. 

The  ties  that  united  us  were  both  strong  and  tender.  I  felt 
for  him  in  a  degree,  the  affection  of  a  father,  being  so  much  older 


than  he,  while  he  was  my  daily  companion  for  long  years,  my  con- 
stant room-mate,  my  only  brother.     I  humbly  hope  that  ere  long, 
we  will  be  united   in  our   Father's  house   forever,   in   purer   friend- 
ship, and  holier  ties,  than  are  found  and  felt  on  earth. 
Your  afTectionate   father, 

John   P.   Hudson. 

He  married  Miss  Eliza  Ross,  of  Botetourt,  who  sur- 
vived him,  with  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  A  daughter 
writes,  "I  feel  that  our  parents  have  left  us  a  priceless  in- 
heritance in  their  example  of  pure  and  holy  Christian  lives." 

The  tributes  of  esteem  from  Mr.  Hudson's  brethren  in 
the  ministry  and  friends  in  this  and  his  native  State,  the  pub- 
lished notices  of  his  death  in  the  Virginia  papers,  especially 
the  Staunton  Spectator,  and  the  Central  Presbyterian,  of 
Richmond,  were  warm  and  significant.  A  few  of  these  testi- 
monials are  here  appended : 

The  following  from  Rev.  James  Carter,  pastor  of  the 
Second  Presbyterian  church,  now  the  Church  of  the  Cove- 
nant, explains  his  absence  at  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Hudson. 
"Believe  me,  that  I  sorrow  with  you  sincerely  in  this  sudden 
and  supreme  loss,  and  it  is  the  deeper  regret  that  1  am 
not  well  enough  to  be  with  you  in  these  days  when  your 
hearts  are  so  heavy.  I  had  hoped  to  express,  by  my  presence 
this  afternoon,  the  esteem  and  veneration  which  I  have  to- 
ward a  faithful  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  had  so  kindly 
welcomed  me  to  my  work  here.  It  is  not  without  a  deep 
sense  of  personal  loss  that  I  write  to  you.  The  loss  of  so 
kindly  a  spirit  as  your  father  is  that  which  words  may  not 
easily  express.  May  the  God  of  your  father  be  with  you  all 
and  comfort  you  all  this  day." 

The  Rev.  Stuart  Mitchell,  D.D.,  of  Mount  Carmel, 
writes:    "You  will  have  great  comiort  in  the  thought  of  the 


46 


long  and  useful  service  your  father  has  rendered,  and  the 
assurance  that  he  is  more  than  a  conqueror,  through  Him 
who  loved  us.  May  the  Lord  help  you  and  your  sisters  and 
brother,  to  keep  the  consolations  of  the  Gospel  before  your 
minds  until  faith  is  lost  in  sight,  and  this  temporary  separa- 
tion is  forgotten  in  his  company  in  the  everlasting  habita- 
tions." 

The  Rev.  R.  L.  Stewart,  D.D.,  of  the  Mahoning  church, 
Danville,  now  of  Lincoln  University:  "To  this  beloved 
brother  God  has  given  many  years  of  usefulness  and  honor, 
and  while  we  mourn  his  loss,  we  know  that  death  was  to  him 
the  gateway  of  life  eternal." 

Rev.  A.  T.  Young,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio:  "I  can  readily 
conceive  the  break  made,  in  your  family  circle,  by  this  event 
to  you  all,  most  painful,  'not  joyous  but  grievous.'  Yet  be 
assured  that  it  has  placed  you  all  within  the  pale  of  our 
Heavenly  Father's  most  precious  promises.  My  fraternal 
intercourse  with  your  father  was  most  happy,  and  is  recorded 
among  my  most  pleasing  recollections ;  his  ripeness,  both  in 
scholarship  and  ministerial  experience  always  bringing  me 
profit.  Allow  me,  therefore,  to  place  myself  and  Mrs.  Young 
among  the  bereaved  ones  'who  on  earth  shall  see  his  face 
no  more.'  I  have  no  doubt  the  event  we  all  deplore  will 
bring  us,  in  both  spirit  and  desire,  nearer  the  'rest'  that  re- 
maineth  'to  the  people  of  God,'  nor  will  we  grudge  the  dear 
departed  one  the  holy  joys  upon  which  he  has  entered.  Be 
assured  of  our  hearty  sympathy  with  you  all  in  your  sorrow, 
with  the  earnest  hope  that  the  'peaceable  fruits  of  righteous- 
ness' may  be  abundantly  reaped.'  " 

Dear  friends  to  whom  Mr.  Hudson  was  tenderly  at- 
tached, write : 


47 


"You  know  how  we  all  loved  your  dear  father,  a  talk 
with  him  always  refreshed  me,  mentally  and  spiritually.  I 
will  not  try  to  write  words  of  comfort  to  you,  my  dear  sor- 
rowing friends,  in  your  sore  bereavement,  but  I  would  love 
to  put  my  arms  about  you,  and  weep  with  you  and  then  I 
can  talk  to  the  loving  Father  about  you  all." 

"Your  dear  father's  death  was  the  triumphant  close  of  a 
true  and  beautiful  life 

"He  has  entered  into  the  'rest'  that  remaineth  'to  the 
people  of  God.'  He  now  knows  in  fuller  measure,  than  here, 
that  peace  and  blessedness,  that  passeth  understanding.  We 
do  believe  that  to  the  Christian — 

"There   is   no    Death!   what   seems   so   is   transition, 

This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  elysian, 

Whose  portal  we  call  Death." 

"What  is  far  more  comforting  than  these  words,  are 
the  Words  of  God.  He  that  'liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall 
never  die.'  I  have  often  thought  of  the  words  of  one  of  the 
clergymen  at  your  dear  mother's  funeral,  that  instead  of 
weeping  on  such  an  occasion,  we  should  walk  around  the 
casket  saying,  'Thanks  be  unto  God,  who  giveth  us  the  vic- 
tory through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'" 

The  Presbytery  of  Northumberland,  of  which  Mr.  Hud- 
son had  been  a  member  for  fifty-two  years,  adopted  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions,  at  Renova,  on  April  22,  1890:  "Since 
our  last  meeting,  the  senior  member  of  this  Presbytery,  the 
Rev.  John  P.  Hudson,  has  passed  from  the  Church  on  earth 
to  the  Church  of  the  First  Born  in  Heaven.  He  died  peace- 
fully in  the  bosom  of  his  family  at  Williamsport,  on  January 
24,  of  the  present  year.    A  memorial  of  his  life  and  labors  is 


in  the  hands  of  the  Clerk  of  Presbytery.  We  are  thus  re- 
minded of  our  own  mortality.  We  tender  to  the  bereaved 
family  our  deep  sympathy  and  commend  them  to  the  kind 
care  of  the  Father  of  the  orphan. 

"D.  J.  Waller,  Sr.,  Chairman  of  Committee." 
He  was  the  last  survivor  of  eight  ministers,  who  had 
been  fellow  students  at  Princeton  Seminary,  and  who  en- 
tered the  Presbytery  about  the  same  time.  The  others  were 
Rev.  Robert  Dunlap,  Rev.  W.  S.  Stone,  Rev.  Isaac  Grier, 
D.D.,  Rev.  David  Hull,  Rev.  Robert  Bryson,  Rev.  S.  S.  Shed- 
dan,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  P.  B.  Marr. 


Rev.  N.  Grier  White  to  Miss  Louise  Hudson: 

New  Haven,  Pa.,  July  28,  1891. 

Dear  Friend: — I  first  became  acquainted  with  your  beloved  and 
excellent  father,  the  Rev.  John  P.  Hudson,  at  the  Theological  Semin- 
ary at  Princeton,  during  the  Fall  of  1830,  when  a  very  pleasant  bond 
of-  acquaintance  and  friendship  was  formed  which  lasted  for  nearly 
sixty  years.  He  had  entered  the  Seminary  one  year  befoie  I  did — 
both  of  us  having  taken  "the  full  course"  we  were  associated  as 
fellow  students   and   classmates,   for   two   full  years. 

While  in  the  Seminary,  we  all  knew  him  as  a  modest,  retiring 
and  unassuming  brother,  who  tunlike  many  others)  greatly  im- 
proved in  our  respect  and  love  upon  further  acquaintance.  In  the 
class  room,  however,  he  early  and  deservedly  secured  our  reipect 
and  admiration,  for  his  talents  and  scholarly  acquirements,  which 
were  plainlv  superi'r  to  those  of  a  majority  of  his  f.elIow  students. 
But,  better  still,  was  the  fact  that  his  daily  walk  and  conversation 
convinced  us  all  that  he  was  eminently  a  pious  and  godly  man.  im- 
bued   with    the    Spirit    of    the    Divine  Master. 

After  leaving  the  Seminary,  our  respective  fields  of  labor  were 
not  geographically  so  very  far  apart,  yet  for  several  reasons  we  did 
not  see  each  others'  faces  for  a  number  of  years.  When,  however, 
we  became  members  of  the  same  Synod,  we  were  frequently  thrown 
into  each  others'  company.  It  was  the  uniform  testimony  of  all 
those,  whose  privilege  it  was  to  hear  him  preach  the  Gospel,  and 
who  heard  him  with  pleasure  and  profit  that  he  was  "a  workman  that 
needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly  divioing  the  Word  of  God." 

The  last  time  that  I  met  your  beloved,  and  now  sainted,  father 
was  in  his  own  happy  home  in  Williamsport,  and  during  the  ses- 
sions of  the  Synod.  It  was  then  and  there,  that  I  partook  of,  and 
enjoyed  the  kind  hospitality  of  himself  and  family,  in  their  Christian 
home.  We  talked  of  our  mutual  joys  and  sorrows,  of  our  labors 
and  burdens,  and  the  very  recounting  of  our  former  experiences 
seemed  to  strengthen  and  cement  the  bonds  of  Christian  love  and 
fellowship  formed  a  half  a  century  before.  I  am  thankful  that  your 
father  lived  to  see  in  his  own  family,  the  fulfilment  of  that  precious 
promise,  "I  will  be  a  God  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee." 
For  I  am  persuaded  that  he  would  heartily  join  the  beloved  Apostle 
in  saying— "I  have  no  greater  joy  than  in  seeing  my  children  walk- 
ing in  the  truth."  Happy  father  of  such  a  household  and  blessed 
children  of  such  a  parent. 

My  kind  regards  to  the  family  of  my  departed  friend  and  brother. 
Very   respectfully    yours, 

N    Grier  White. 


so 

Rev.  Horatio  W.  Brown  to  M.  Louise  Hudson: 

WoosTER,  Ohio,  August  25,  1891 

My  Dear  Friend: — One  of  the  most  valuable  testimonies  to  your 
dear,  and  now  sainted  father's  worth,  is  that  he  has  inspired  those 
of  his  own  house  with  so  deep  a  reverence  for  his  character  and  life, 
that  everything  relating  to  him  is  sacred  to  you.  I  can  understand 
too,  how  your  father  has  so  large  a  place  in  your  thoughts  and  af- 
fections by  reason  of  his  very  genial,  ardent  nature.  It  was  evident 
to  any  acquaintance  that  with  him  family  life  was  most  delight- 
ful. Indeed!  I  do  not  recall  any  one  who  seemed  to  have  greater 
joy  in  little  children  than  he  had.  I  remember  when  he  would  come 
to  see  us,  how  eagerly  he  would  inquire  after  the  babes  of  the  house, 
and  what  a  fond  interest  he  took  in  them.  Such  love  for  children 
kept  his  heart  young  even  to  the  end. 

There  was  much  about  Mr.  Hudson  that  impressed  me,  thus 
he  was  a  fine  type  of  a  Christian  gentleman.  Hailing  from  Virginia 
—home  of  so  many  good  and  noble  men,  there  was  in  his  bearing 
a  certain  quiet  dignity  and  stateliness  of  manner,  which  told  plainly 
of  an  early  training  such  as  the  old  Dominion  was  wont  to  give 
her   favored  sons. 

And  when  in  conversation  the  days  long  back  were  touched  upon, 
it  was  with  an  enthusiasm  which  showed  at  once  how  pleasing  the 
topic   was. 

But  it  is  especially  as  a  Christian  and  as  a  minister  that  your 
father  will  be  remembered.  And  on  this  point  very  much  might  be 
said,  and  yet  how  little  need  to  do  it,  for  his  life  and  work  speak  for 
him.  Few  men  in  the  Church  have  labored  so  long.  And  it  is  a 
cheering  thought  that  his  influence  will  go  down  from  generation  to 
generation,  with  ever  increasing  blessing. 

He  was  well  versed  in  theology  and  in  Presbyterian  polity.  But 
happily  now  his  knowledge  needs  no  accession  of  earthly  helps. 
Here  "we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then  face  to  face;  now 
we  know  in  part,  but  then  we  shall  know,  even  as  also  we  are  known." 
To  this  joyful  day  of  eternal  light,  he  often  looked  forward  with  in- 
tense longing.  In  God's  own  time,  may  we  follow  him  into  the 
same  blissful  presence. 

With  alTectionate  regards  to  you  all, 
Sincerely  yours, 

Horatio  W.   Brown. 


Rev.  James  Clark,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  writes  August 
28,  1891 : 

"It  will  aflford  me  much  pleasure  to  add  my  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  your  dear  and  now  sainted  father."  Dr.  Clark's  ill  health  and 
death  shortly  after  prevented.  A  warm  and  ardent  friendship  was 
formed  when  students  at  Princeton  Seminary  which  continued 
through  the  years,  when  they  were  associated  as  pastor  of  n'jigh- 
bouring  congregations  (Dr.  Clark  being  the  beloved  pastor  of  Lew- 
isburg  Church).  This  friendship  of  almost  sixty  years  was  broken 
only  by  death.  They  parted  on  earth  to  meet  in  the  same  holy 
presence  on  the  other  side. 

He  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his  works  do  follow  him 
into  the  world  of  light  and  love,  where  he  has  gone  to  dwell 
with  Christ  forevermore. 

In  his  own  words,  written  in  1858,  on  "The  Eternal 
Reward  to  the  Faithful  Minister  of  the  Gospel,"  he  now 
"is  rejoicing  in  tlie  holy  residence  of  the  redeemed  in  that 
circle  infinite,  sublime" — 

"That  sing,  and  singing  in  their  glory  move." 
God's  sovereign  grace  adding  pathos  to  his  joy  in  the  realms 
of  glory,  while  he  unites  with  the  full  choir  in  raising  the 
anthems  to  Him  who  loved  him. 

He  has  heard  that  voice  sweeter  than  the  music  of  angels 
sounding  in  his  ravished  ears,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  He  has  ex- 
changed the  helmet  of  hope  for  the  glory  crown— the  sword 
for  the  palm.  He  has  taken  his  place  among  the  conquerors 
by  the  Cross.  It  was  his  privilege  as  a  faithful  minister  of 
Christ  to  gather  fruit  into  eternal  life  and  having  operated 
on  mind — cultivated  spirit — sown  immortal  seed  in  immortal 
soil— he  reaps  at  last  of  an  evergrowing  harvest  and  plucks 
fruit,  over  which  time  and  change  have  no  influence. 


52 


How  divine  the  delight  of  finding  himself  in  the  presence 
of  the  great  Master — receiving  his  approbation — entering 
into  his  joy — rejoicing  with  Him  in  the  welfare  of  sanctified 
spiritual  beings — in  the  attainment  of  which  He  allowed  him 
the  honor  to  participate." 

"Servant  of  God  wel!  done! 

Rest  from  thy  loved  employ! 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 

Enter  thy    Master's  joy. 

Soldier  of  Christ,  well  done! 

Praise  be  thy  new  employ, 
And  while  eternal  ages  run, 

Rest  in  thy  Saviour's  joy." 

Of  the  seven  children  of  the  Rev.  John  P.  Hudson,  the 
eldest  son  died  in  infancy.  The  first  break  was  made  in  the 
little  family  circle,  when  Augusta  Virginia,  a  blue-eyed  darl- 
ing, her  head  sunny  with  golden  curls,  was  taken  to  the 
gardens  of  the  Lord,  leaving  her  fond  parents  to  grieve  over 
the  sad  change  in  the  home  life  caused  by  the  loss  of  this 
lovely  little  girl. 

"How  many  hopes  were  borne  upon  thy  bier, 
O  child  of  stricken  love !" 

At  the  age  of  twenty-three  years,  Robert  Paris  Hudson, 
gifted  to  a  wonderful  degree,  with  powers  both  intellectual 
and  moral,  was  called  to  rest. 

He  devoted  hitnself  to  study  at  a  very  early  age,  and 
was  well  prepared  by  his  father  for  entering  the  junior  class 
in  college,  when  his  health  failed.  "Wearing  the  white 
flower  of  a  blameless  life,"  he  took  a  front  rank  in  his  classi- 


53 


cal  and  all  other  studies.  A  handsome  personal  appearance, 
commanding  figure,  and  fine  voice,  combined  with  eminent 
scholarship,  seemed  a  fair  prospect  to  fit  him  for  a  life  of 
usefulness.  The  fond  hopes  of  parents  and  friends  were 
blasted  by  the  early  death  of  one  so  amiable,  so  truthful,  so 
talented,  but  they  were  not  left  to  sorrow  as  others  who 
have  no  hope. 


Uirflinia  Paris  l^udson 

Entered  into  rest  at  her  home,  in  Williamsport,  Penna., 
on  January  15,  1904,  Virginia  Paris,  youngest  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  John  Paris  and  Hettie  Bryson  Hudson,  and 
youngest  grandchild  of  the  Rev.  John  Bryson. 

She  was  born  at  Turbutville,  during  her  father's  pastor- 
ate of  the  McEwensville  Church.  "Little  Pet"  will  be  af- 
fectionately remembered  in  the  later  pastorates  of  her  father. 
The  characteristics  of  English,  Huguenot  and  Scotch-Irish 
ancestry,  uniting  formed  in  her  a  rare  and  beautiful  character. 
Delighting  in  music  and  poetry,  and  in  the  study  of  classic 
and  elegant  literature,  hers  was  a  life  of  intellectual  and 
artistic  pursuits.  Self-sacrificing  and  loving,  she  was  never 
so  happy  as  when  doing  for  others.  In  the  home  circle  of 
•which  she  was  the  joy  and  pride,  her  beautiful  qualities  shone 
brightest.  Reared  in  the  benign  influences  of  a  minister's 
home,  she  received  a  careful  religious  training  and  very  early 
in  life  she  gave  her  heart  to  Christ. 

Positive  in  character,  and  a  Presbyterian  by  heredity 
and  conviction,  she  loved  the  house  of  God,  and  was  deeply 
interested  in  the  missionary  and  all  other  benevolent  agen- 
cies of  the  Church.  She  dwelt  during  all  the  years  of  her 
Christian  life,  far  away  from  the  damps  that  arise  about 
Doubting  Castle  and  near  the  Beulah  land,  where  the  sun- 
light ever  falls. 

In  her  last  illness,  she  was  ever  looking  with  strong 
faith  to  the  hills  from  whence  came  her  help,  and  longing 
for  the  Master's  call  to  enter  the  mansion  prepared  for  her 
in  her  Father's  house.     The  same  gentle,  lovely  spirit  which 


55 


marked  her  character  in  life  shone  with  increased  lustre  in 
her  last  moments,  until  she  saw  her  Pilot  face  to  face,  when 
she  had  crossed  the  bar,  and  He  steered  her  through  the 
troubled  waters  to  the  glorious  world  beyond. 

"He  giveth  his  beloved  sleep." 

The  last  surviving  children  are  Mary  J.  Hudson,  M. 
Louise  Hudson  and  John  Bryson  Hudson,  all  of  Williams- 
port,  now  Watsontown,  Pennsylvania. 


